IS AMERICA GETTING SWEPT AWAY BY OBAMA-HYPE?

By Gloria Feldt | February 8, 2008 |

Have you ever been in a meeting where the group was on deadline to make a decision, but had been unable to reach consensus on which direction to go? What happens next? Nine times out of ten, someone comes up with a different idea than the ones you’ve been hashing around for hours. Everybody gloms onto it, and so do you, because you are desperate to place that important phone call, go to lunch, or you’re just plain worn down from arguing.

So whoever picks that perfect moment to throw out his or her idea becomes the hero while everyone else gets swept away in that new new thing, whose dazzle is untarnished by the imperfections of solutions that have been over-analyzed.

Leadership experts say this process usually results in the worst decisions. Doesn’t it seem to you as though many people are swept away by Barack Obama’s enormous charsma and dazzling star power?

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By the Numbers: U.S. Women in Political Leadership

By Gloria Feldt | January 29, 2008 |
WOMEN & POLITICS FACTS*

Facts are facts, but facts always subject to interpretation. Many think tanks and pundits have asked the question: “Why are women still so underepresented in political office, especially at the highest levels?

Officeholders

  • Women hold 87, or 16.3%, of the 535 seats in the 110th US Congress
  • Women currently make up 23.5% of state legislatures
  • There are nine women governors
  • The United States ranks 67th internationally in women’s political representation**

Voting Behavior

  • Women, who make up 52% of the population, are more likely to vote than men
  • 67.3 million women reported voting in 2004, 8.8 million more than men
  • Approximately 35 million eligible women didn’t vote on election day 2004

*Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University
**Inter-Parliamentary Union

How would you interpret these numbers?

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